Car manufacturer BMW plans to cut around 8,000 jobs by late 2027. The German auto giant will begin the “voluntary reduction program” by offering buyouts to personnel in research, development, and planning. Factory workers will not be offered a buyout, accoridng to sources.

BMW CEO Milan Nedeljkovic is expected to announce the voluntary reduction program at a staff meeting this week, some of the sources said. They added that the plan would be launched in October and run through 2027. The company intends to reportedly cut around 5% of its total workforce.

The automaker employed 87,436 people in Germany as of late 2025, which accounted for more than half of its global headcount. The company has already been making gradual reductions, with a reported decrease of 2.3% compared to 2024, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Universal Basic Income Debate Surfaces As AI Technology Advances, Taking Jobs

Officials and business representatives have repeatedly linked the decrease in jobs to a crisis of high energy costs resulting from Berlin’s decision to abandon cheap Russian oil and gas imports. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz admitted earlier this month that Germany’s “ongoing energy crisis [was] due to the lack of Russian gas.”

Several countries are experiencing the beginnings of an energy crisis. The US is seeing astronomical gasoline and diesel prices as the war rages with Iran, and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Houthi rebels in the Red Sea are making shipping fuel difficult in that region as well. There doesn’t seem to be any reprieve for those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder right now.

German workers are expected to be particularly affected as the manufacturer is dealing with high production costs in Europe, as well as plunging sales in China, according to reports by several mainstream media outlets.

The Federation of German Industries (BDI) warned last week that the nation’s industrial sector was losing 15,000 jobs every month in what it described as a “critical” situation.

Unfortunately, Germany has struggled with near-zero growth for years. It contracted in both 2023 and 2024, the first back-to-back annual decline in more than two decades, and is forecast to grow by just 0.5% this year.